Art is Activism for New Fishy Food Cars

GMO Food Labeling Activist Group to Visit Denver in August

WASHINGTON, DC – On August 6 seventeen activists will set out on a cross-country 3300-mile journey from the US Capitol to Seattle, Washington for what is being called the “Are We Eating Fishy Food Tour.” The tour features five mutant GMO art cars fitted with large roof-mounted sculptures and carrying information about the need for labeling genetically engineered (GMO) food. The tour begins at the west side of the US Capitol on August 6 at 10am and arrives in Seattle on August 15, where the fishy food cars will debut at Seattle Hempfest.Washington State is a national battleground over the GMO food issue. Voters there will decide this November whether foods with GMO ingredients should be labeled as such. The Are We Eating Fishy Food Tour will pass through thirteen states and nine state capitals with events along the way, including two events in Denver, a welcome dinner on August 10, and a rally at the Colorado state capitol building on August 12, beginning at eight thirty in the morning. A complete schedule of the tour can be found at www.AreWeEatingFishyFood.com

“The Fishy Food art car fleet’s cross-country swim from Washington, DC to Washington State will get people talking about the importance of GMO labeling,” says David Bronner, President of Dr. Bronner’s Magic Soaps, whose company supported the creation of the art cars.

Since 2011 there has been a rebirth in citizen activism around the issue of knowing what’s in our food. That year, theRight to Know March for GMO labeling walked 313 miles from Brooklyn, NY to the gates of the White House in Washington, DC. “The ‘R2K’ march was obscure to most people, but two years later there is widespread awareness of unlabeled GMO foods thanks to voter initiatives, increased legislative efforts, world-wide protests, and creative education efforts like the Fishy Food cars,” says Bronner.

Genetic Engineering means more pesticides. Chemical companies genetically engineer DNA from bacteria into food crops to either produce or tolerate the pesticides they sell. This foreign DNA produces foreign proteins in every cell of the plant that we eat in our food. No long-term independent safety studies have been performed on adverse health effects. Overuse of pesticide is creating resistant superweeds and superbugs, which leads to more pesticides being sprayed. Now chemical companies like Monsanto and Dow are engineering resistance in food crops to much more toxic weed killers like Dicamba and 2,4 D, the main ingredient in Agent Orange.

While over 60 countries—EU nations, China, Russia, Japan, Brazil, and South Africa included—require labeling of GMOs, US consumers can currently only rely on voluntary labeling to determine whether food products have been genetically altered through gene splicing technology.

Origins of the FishyFood Cars

The first car in the Fishy Food fleet was “Poppy,” aka FishyCorn Car. Created in September 2011 by César Maxit and DC51 artist collective. Fishy Corn was constructed with a frame made of welded steel and a skin of chicken wire and tape. The design was implemented for the Right2Know March, where Fishy Corn served as a support vehicle to carry leaflets, organic snacks and water, and to ferry people to the front of the march when they were falling behind. Later that year Maxit, working with welder & fiberglass artist David Jackson, began building a larger and more durable Fishy Corn sculpture from fiberglass with a heavy steel frame. The new and improved Fishy Corn car went to Monsanto headquarters in Creve Coeur, Missouri for the 2012 annual shareholder meeting with activist Adam Eidinger. He parked the car on the agribusiness giant’s campus and debated Monsanto’s CEO Hugh Grant on GMO labeling during the meeting. A secret videoof the encounter went viral online shortly afterwards.Fishy Corn then stayed in St. Louis with activists and after a few months swam to California to support Proposition 37, a GMO labeling voter initiative that failed by less than 2% in November 2012. In December, Fishy Corn made a southern tour with members of the Real Cooperative who returned it home to Washington, DC.In January 2013, Maxit began building four more Fishy Food creations using extensive volunteer labor from the Washington, DC community. By the beginning of March 2013, the Fishy Sugar Beet aka “Rooty” swam onto the scene. Since then, Fishy Apple aka “Goldie,” and Fishy Soy aka “Soja Girl” have been completed. Fishy Tomato aka “K-Sup” is was completed today July 15, 2013.

“People want healthier food than what GMO food has to offer,” says Rica Madrid, coordinator of the Are We Eating Fishy Food Tour. “You can measure the impact these educational vehicles are having by the reaction and excitement on people’s faces and the large number of shares we see in social media,” says Madrid.

Members of the media are encouraged to embed with the Are We Eating Fishy Food fleet for some or all of the tour. Contact Adam Eidinger at 202-744-2671 or adam@mintwood.com to make arrangements.

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As the March Against Monsanto is close at hand, we are grateful to Colorado local KGNU has once again been gracious in bringing the community real news about what all the noise is about. Today KGNU is celebrating 35 years of public education. Come take a listen as Ellice Campbell spends time on Metro a locally produced news and public affairs talk show.

Information begins with Micro RNA’s that impact all forms of life through active genetic modification of our human cells is discussed. There is a danger in consuming the poisons used to deter weed growth and natural insects in over 80% of farms producing corn and soybeans. These poisons are used with genetically modified plants that have had their genetics spliced with bacteria to survive the poisons used. The food then carries parts of this poison in it as the crops leave the farm and head for factory. These crops are processed and end up in most of the food available in grocery stores today. While it has been proven that animals eating these crops have developed cancer, gone through phantom conception and delivered empty birthsacks and experienced all kinds of other diseases. Additionally the The American Academy of Environmental Medicine advises their doctors to prescribe non-GMO diets as they have found GMO’s to cause reproductive, immune system, aging problems and so much more. Education is the most important factor. The impact of disease has impacted the human race as well. This is because the primary company that has developed these crops, Monsanto – aware of these scientific facts has done everything to remove themselves from liability for the effects of their creation while they continue to pump out these crops. 80% of corn is GMO corn. High fructose corn syrup is in all the food you eat. These crops are continued to be produced with the knowledge that the food created from it can kill.

This year a bill passed through congress called, Consolidated and Further Continuing Appropriations Act, 2013 which is often called the “Monsanto Protection Act” who’s purpose (in layman’s terms) is to indemnify Monsanto Corporation and other GMO producers from persecution when this becomes an epidemic. We believe this is a crime against humanity. Many of us remember when poison stickers were something you put on chemicals in the house to warn children of their danger. And now, we believe it is time to require food manufacturing companies to be required to label the food products they make when poisons #GMO’s are used in the production of our food. It’s easy to agree that eating rotten, moldy or contaminated foods is not advised because people can get sick and die. It’s time for us to stand together and make the same statement made to chemical companies, label your products so consumers know what they are purchasing. It’s illogical that the healthy and safe food to eat be labeled and not the dangerous items. Please take the time to listen to the full audio piece from KGNU here :

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This explosive exposé reveals what the biotech industry doesn’t want you to know – how industry manipulation and political collusion, not sound science, allow dangerous genetically engineered food into your daily diet. Company research is rigged, alarming evidence of health dangers is covered up, and intense political pressure applied. Chapters read like adventure stories and are hard to put down:* Scientists were offered bribes or threatened. Evidence was stolen. Data was omitted or distorted.
* Government employees who complained were harassed, stripped of responsibilities, or fired.
* Laboratory rats fed a GM crop developed stomach lesions and seven of the forty died within two weeks. The crop was approved without further tests.
* The only independent in-depth feeding study ever conducted showed evidence of alarming health dangers. When the scientist tried to alert the public, he lost his job and was silenced with threats of a lawsuit.

Read the actual internal memos by FDA scientists, warning of toxins, allergies, and new diseases – all ignored by their superiors, including a former attorney for Monsanto. Learn why the FDA withheld information from Congress after a genetically modified supplement killed nearly a hundred people and disabled thousands. The GMO Trilogy’s was released in April 2006 in conjunction with Earth Day (April 22) and International GMOpposition Day (April 8)—a coordinated 30-nation campaign to raise awareness about genetically modified (GM) food.

In the United States, the FDA, the agency tasked with ensuring food safety for the population, is steered by ex-Monsanto executives, and we feel that’s a questionable conflict of interests and explains the lack of government-lead research on the long-term effects of GMO products.

Recently, the U.S. Congress and president collectively passed the nicknamed “Monsanto Protection Act” that, among other things, bans courts from halting the sale of Monsanto’s genetically-modified seeds.

For too long, Monsanto has been the benefactor of corporate subsidies and political favoritism. Organic and small farmers suffer losses while Monsanto continues to forge its monopoly over the world’s food supply.

Monsanto’s GMO seeds are harmful to the environment; for example, scientists have indicated they have caused colony collapse among the world’s bee population.

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It is time to take back our food!

President Obama has given Monsanto immunity with the signing of Senate billHR 933, affectionately known by opponents as the Monsanto Protection Act. Late Tuesday, March 26th, while most of the country was enthralled in the DOMA debate, provisions were passed, effectively barring federal courts from being able to stop the sale or planting of controversial genetically modified or genetically engineered (GE) seeds, despite what health issues may arise concerning their use in the future. Wrapped in a “farmer-friendly” package, this Monsanto-driven rider is simply a biotech industry ploy to continue to plant GE crops even when a court of law has found they were approved illegally. Families, individuals, and businesses in our community are joining together to take a stand against Monsanto. March Against Monsanto (MAM) educates & advocates for consumers everywhere concerned about the safety of GMOs. MAM events across the world on May 25 amplify the public outcry for labeling of ALL GMO products and symbolize the widespread public opposition to the newly passed US Senate bill, HR 933, the Monsanto Protection Act.

Would you like to help us make a difference? We need people like you to donate time, energy, and experience in a variety of areas. Let’s take back our food!

Please call us today at 720-306-1192 to find out more about how you can help, or send us an email